The sixth week of the U.S. Chess League saw the top two teams in each division, Dallas and Boston, cement their leads. Both teams now have 5/6 match wins and 1.5 point leads over their nearest competitors. (Baltimore and New Jersey in the East have 3.5, and Seattle has 3.5 in the West.) League commissioner Greg Shahade is thrilled with the ever raising excitement level of fans and supporters: "I'd like to thank ICC, pokerstars, all the bloggers, and to name a few specific people who have volunteered many hours to helping the league: Arun Sharma, Jonathan Hilton, Robby Adamson and Robert Bolen (MrBob)."

A much anticipated match

This exciting match featured defending league champions, the San Francisco Mechanics, and the Boston Blitz, who are ripping up the Eastern Division. Patrick Wolff came out of retirement to hold down board one for the Mechanics, but his Sicilian was no match for Larry Christiansen's creative play, which featured a striking sacrifice on move 27.

Position after 27.Nd5

Vinay Bhat scored a point on board two, but on board four, Chris Williams took the cue from Larry's inspired play to decide the match 2.5-1.5 in favor of Boston. He reached the following position after move 17:

After a disappointing start to their season, the Knights finally had an occasion to celebrate, with a 3-1 victory over the Seattle Sluggers. The team rocks, Irina Krush and Jay Bonin, both playing for the Knights for their third straight year, scored seemingly easy victories. Here is Jay's win over John Readey

NJ Knockouts Barely KO Carolina

With three draws on the top three boards, this match came down to a board four battle between Craig Jones and Jason Lian in which the young Lian calmly dispatched Jones' wild attack:

Student Helps Teacher

On board one of the Miami-Queens match, Julio Becerra played a great Sicilian game against Stripunsky.

Position after 26.Nb7. Black is crushed.

Here is the entire game:

Salvaging the match draw for the Pioneers was Stripunsky's star pupil, Parker Zhao.

Tennessee and Baltimore tie

Todd Andrews defeated Larry Kaufman on board two, in a nice Ruy Lopez game that featured the thematic sacrifice 26.Ngf5!

Battsetseg evened the score on board four with a well-played Accelerated Dragon. The final position is a comical two bishops vs. two queens endgame that you probably won't find in too many endgame theory books.

Philly Falls to Dallas

Showing his teeth against a dry Anti-Sicilian, Kudrin won a pawn and the game on board one against Drasko Boskovic. The Dallas Destiny still prevailed, as Davorin Kuljasevic beat Bryan Smith on board two and John Stopa beat Richard Costigan on board three.